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The Courtauld, London
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (detail), oil on canvas by Manet, Édouard, 1832–1883, photo credit: Courtauld Institute
The Folies-Bergère was Paris's first music hall. A magazine described its atmosphere of 'unmixed joy' where everyone spoke 'the language of pleasure'. It was notorious for the access it gave to prostitutes. The barmaids, according to the poet Maupassant, were 'vendors of drink and of love'. This picture was Manet's last major work, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882. Manet knew the Folies-Bergère well. He made preparatory sketches on site, but the final painting was executed in his studio. He set up a bar and employed one of the barmaids, Suzon, to pose behind it. Manet's picture is unsettling. An acrobat's feet, clad in green boots, dangle in the air. The quickly sketched crowds convey the bustle of the Folies-Bergères. In contrast, the barmaid is detached and marooned behind her bar, with her reflection displaced to the right. She stares at the viewer, but the mirror shows her facing a customer.
The Courtauld Gallery is one of the finest small museums in the world. Its collection stretches from the early Renaissance into the twentieth century and is particularly renowned for its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces. The Gallery also holds an exceptional collection of drawings and prints and fine examples of sculpture and decorative arts. The Gallery is at the heart of The Courtauld Institute of Art, one of the world’s leading centres for the study of art history and conservation.
Framed and unframed prints from The Courtauld Gallery.
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Photo credit: The Courtauld
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Manet, Édouard, 1832–1883
A Battle Scene
Foggini, Giovanni Battista, 1652–1725
A Battle Scene outside a Walled City
A Drawing School (École de dessein)
Prévost, Benoît-Louis, 1747–c.1804
A Man Seen from Behind
Pinturicchio, Bernardino, c.1454–1513
A Quintain
Caron, Antoine, 1521–1599
A Rainy Day, Cookham
Walker, Frederick, 1840–1875
A Square in Naples at Sunrise
Küsel, Melchior, 1626–1683
A Storm on the River Schelde with a View of Antwerp
Bruegel the elder, Pieter, c.1525–1569
A Tile Factory
van Gogh, Vincent, 1853–1890
A Triumph
Italian (Florentine) School
A Wise Virgin
Dürer, Albrecht, 1471–1528
A Woman Holding a Lily-of-the-Valley and a Pansy
Reichlich, Marx, 1464–1538
Abigail and Nabal
Jacobsz., Lambert, 1592–1637
Abraham Casting Out Hagar
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606–1669
Adam and Eve
Cranach the elder, Lucas, 1472–1553
Adam and Eve after the Expulsion
Teniers II, David, 1610–1690
Adam and Eve at Work
Fetti, Domenico, c.1589–1624
Adam and Eve Hearing the Judgment of the Almighty
Martin, John, 1789–1854
Adoration of the Magi
Lippo di Andrea, c.1370–before 1451
Flemish School
Ricci, Sebastiano, 1659–1734
Membrini, Michelangelo di Pietro, active 1489–1521
Adoration of the Shepherds
Tintoretto, Jacopo, c.1518–1594
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Déjeuner sur l`herbe
La Loge (Theatre Box)
Autumn Effect at Argenteuil
Two Dancers on a Stage
Still Life with Plaster Cupid
The Haystacks
Bridge at Courbevoie
